The Super Mario Bros. Super Show
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! was the first of the three series in DIC Entertainment's Super Mario animated cartoon trilogy, aired between September and December of 1989; it was the only one to be produced directly for syndication. The show featured live-action segments in which Mario and Luigi (played by Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively), living in their basement workshop in Brooklyn, were often visited by various celebrity guest stars. Also featured were cartoons based on the first and second Super Mario Bros. games, where the Mario brothers teamed up with Princess Peach (then known as Princess Toadstool) and Toad to battle King Koopa and his forces to save the many lands of the world. The Super Mario Bros. cartoons were shown on Mondays through Thursdays only; on Fridays, the show would air cartoons based on the Legend of Zelda series. In 1990, a show called Club Mario appeared combining the animated segments with the live-action adventures of a boy named Tommy Treehugger. Background Each episode began with a live-action segment starring Mario (portrayed by World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment Hall of Famer, the late "Captain" Lou Albano) and Luigi (the late Danny Wells) living in Brooklyn, where they would often be visited by a celebrity guest star either playing themselves or another character at Mario Brothers Plumbing, a basement workshop which doubled as their home. The live-action segment would be followed by a cartoon based on the Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 video games, where Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool (Peach), and Toad would battle against King Koopa (Bowser) throughout the many lands of the world, often in a movie or historical parody. Mouser, Tryclyde, Fryguy and a single, unnamed Koopa Troopa often worked closely with King Koopa, serving as his henchmen. Getting into the spirit of these parodies, King Koopa usually took on a varying alter ego. He had a different outfit for each one, and would take on a different alias to along with it. For example, in a riverboat-themed episode, King Koopa was "Captain Koopa", while in one of the western-themed episodes, he went by "Billy the Koopa". In many episodes, King Koopa's minions would often dress up in outfits as well, to go along with Koopa's themed costumes. In some episodes, King Koopa would go without an alter ego nor wear a costume except for "Mario and the Beanstalk", "Jungle Fever" and "Mario of the Apes". The only episode where King Koopa doesn't appear is "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em". Wart, the main antagonist of the second game, was never in any of the episodes, yet most of his minions managed to appear as members of the Koopa Pack. Like most 1980s cartoons, King Koopa would prolong the series' run by escaping from his adversaries (which he did through the use of Magic Potion), even though they could easily catch him. The bathtub. The basis of the storyline (introduced at the beginning of every animated episode) was that Mario and Luigi were working on a bathtub drain which unknowingly was a warp zone to the Mushroom Kingdom, and Mario and Luigi had literally gone down the drain and ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom, by sheer coincidence causing problems for King Koopa and rescuing Toad and Princess Toadstool. Now that they were rescued, the focus for the Mario Brothers was to return to Brooklyn, while stopping King Koopa's tyranny whenever they could. Lou Albano and Danny Wells also voiced Mario and Luigi for the animated segment. It was never revealed whether their live action sequences were a prequel to the animated series or they successfully returned to Brooklyn and resumed their duties in the plumbing business. Following the cartoon was the third portion of the episode, which continued the story that the live-action segment set up in the beginning. Towards the end, the second part of the live-action segment was interrupted with scenes from that week's upcoming episode of The Legend of Zelda. The Super Mario Bros. cartoon was shown on Mondays through Thursdays only. On Fridays, the show would air The Legend of Zelda cartoons based on the game of the same name. However, a Mario live-action segment would air with the Zelda episodes. On September 3, 1990, the show changed its name to Club Mario, replacing the live-action Mario segment with two completely different characters known as Tommy Treehugger and Co M.C., with occasional appearances by Tammy Treehugger (Tommy's twin sister) and Evil Eric (Co M.C.'s evil twin brother). In another Mario related television series, King Koopa's Kool Kartoons, framed portraits of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! versions of Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool can be seen in various episodes. Broadcast history The show lasted from 1989 to 1990. After DiC's Mario cartoons ended, the show was aired in reruns on the Family Channel (currently known as Freeform). The Family Channel's reruns of the series removed the Legend of Zelda previews and the scenes that segued into them from the live-action segments, and slowed down the episodes to bring them back to their original length. They also changed the placement of the commercial breaks, placing them during scene dissolves in the animated segments. (Curiously, the Family Channel version of "King Mario of Cramalot" and "Day of the Orphan" is the version used in subsequent DVD and digital releases.) Also, from that point onward, the song covers played during the cartoon's chase scenes were removed and replaced them with instrumentals of songs featured in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. This was probably done for licensing reasons as the lyrics of the song covers are copyrighted. From 1989 to 1991, Kid Klassics released NTSC VHS videos of the show. These videos contained two, one, or no live-action segments, and featured the cartoon segments with their original song covers intact. On these videos, the "Super Mario Bros." theme wasn't included before the cartoon segment. The show was made available to watch from Yahooligans! TV starting in March 2004, with a new episode usually uploaded every week. It was taken down along with all DiC Entertainment cartoons on December 24, 2005. As of November 3, 2009 it can be watched at Jaroo.com, a video-streaming website owned by Cookie Jar Group. The website routinely cycles through all fifty-two of the show's episodes, hosting five at any given time. Each Tuesday, the next episode in line is added, with the oldest being dropped. Since DHX Media purchased Cookie Jar, Jaroo was taken down. As of 2011, it can be watched via Netflix, Hulu and WildBrain's official YouTube channel. Main Protagonists * Mario * Luigi * Princess Toadstool * Toad * King Koopa/his alter egos * Mouser * Tryclyde * Koopa Troopa * Cast * Regulars * Lou Albano — Mario, Man 1, Flab Bro 1, Citizen 2, Citizen 3, Pidget 1, Guy 1 and Mushroom 5 * Danny Wells — Luigi, Salvador Drainado, * Jeannie Elias — Princess Toadstool, Birdo, and Shy Guy * John Stocker — Toad, Mouser, Koopa Troopa and Beezo * Harvey Atkin — King Koopa, Tryclyde, Sergeant Kooperman, Snifit, Calamity Clam, Talking Head, Crocodile 1, Crocodile 2, Down Under Land Mayor, Goomba 3 and Hooded Robin * Robert Bockstael — (Additional Voices) * Dorian Joe Clark — (Additional Voices) * Rob Cowan — (Additional Voices) * Denise Pidgeon — (Additional Voices) * Paulina Gillis — (Additional Voices) * Greg Morton — (Additional Voices) * Joyce Gordon — (Additional Voices) * Greg Swanson — (Additional Voices) * Diane Fabian — (Additional Voices) * Marilyn Lightstone — (Additional Voices) * Marla Lukofsky — (Additional Voices) * Live - Action Guest stars * Nicole Eggert (herself) * Danica McKellar (Patty) * Karen Hartman (Patty's mother) * Jim Ward (Patty's father and Count Zoltan Dracula) * Robert Remus Sgt. Slaughter (himself) * Joseph Griffo (mini Mario) * Lyle Alzado (himself) * Eugene Liebowitz (Dr. Frankenstein) * Craig Armstrong (Frankenstein's Monster and Gorilla) * Larry Gelman (Dr. Sigmund Fruitcake and Vincent Van Gook) * Fred Travalena (Elvis Presley and Mr. Gibbel) * Paul Elder (Alligator Dundee) * Shabba-Doo (himself) * Pam Matteson (Cher and herself) * Clare Carey (E.C.) * David Horowitz (himself) * Harry Blackstone Jr. (himself) * Magic Johnson (himself) * Marty Allen (Imperial Poobah) * Donna Douglas (Ellie Mae) * Gary Schwartz (Dr. Toby, Inspector Klean and Doc Freud) * Patrick Dempsey (Plant Monster) * Regina Williams (Susanna Ross) * Philop Clark (HAL 9001) * Ed Metzger (Einstein) * Vic Dunlop (Pietro) * Nedra Volz (Angelica) * Scott Nemes (Young McDonald) * Rob Stone (himself) * Kay Ballard (Madam AGoGo) * Brian Bonsall (himself) * Ed Metzger (George Washington, Ralph Washington) * Sonny Trinidad (Obi-Wan Cannoli) * Norman Fell (Ted Bull) * Andy Heyward (Howard Stevens) * Jim Lange (himself) * Gary Owens (The Wonderfully Wacky Willy White) * Martin C. Gardner (Mikhail S. Gorbachev) * Melanie Chartoff (Tawny Tyler) * Vicki Bakken (Liz) * Courtney Gibbs (Luigi's girlfriend) * Joe Bellan (Tommy Lasagna) * Karen Hartman (Mrs. Gammliss) * Vanna White (Roxanne) * Rowdy Roddy Piper (himself) * Kort Falkenberg (Nick) * Cyndi Lauper (herself) * Ernie Hudson (himself) * Moon Zappa (Marilyn) * Elvira (herself) * Norman Fell (Fred Van Winkle) * Willard E. Pugh (Little Robert) * Paula Irvine (Mad Donna) * Maurice LaMarche (Inspector Gadget) * Elaine Kagan (The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before it Happens) * Eve Plumb (Jodie) Episodes Category:TV Shows Category:DIC Entertainment Category:Super Nintendo Category:Boomerang Category:Cookie Jar Category:Super Mario Bros